Nosfera-tude: Who'd have known Floyd and Danks came to Chicago in deals with the devil?

There are two trades on Chicago White Sox GM Ken Williams’ resume
that stand above all others, and they took place within three weeks of one
another at the end of 2006.

It always had been an uphill climb for Williams on the job, but his
December 6, 2006 acquisition of Gavin Floyd (along with Gio Gonzalez) from the
Philadelphia Phillies for Freddy Garcia was the first unadulterated steal of
his tenure. Three weeks later, he pilfered John Danks (and Nick Masset) from
the Texas Rangers for Brandon McCarthy, thereby setting up 40% of his rotation
for several years to come.

At that moment, Williams was riding higher than he ever had. After
all, the White Sox had won 189 games over the previous two seasons and snapped
an 88-year title drought in 2005. There was every reason to believe that the
Pale Hose would win another 90 in 2007 and continue on as a serious factor in
not only the AL Central race, but the fight for the pennant, season after
season.

But at that moment, after securing Floyd and Danks in trades that
at the time could have been perceived as salary/veteran dumps, the only place
Williams would go was down. For any lows of the early years of his tenure (paging Todd Ritchie), it’s been rough going for the GM since
acquiring Floyd and Danks.

As Gavin prepares to ascend to the mound to take on Garcia and the New York Yankees on Monday night, the question is thus begged: Was
the Floyd-for-Garcia trade Ken’s own deal with the devil?

Yes, there are the obvious signs that some satanic skullduggery
was at the core of Ken’s holiday shopping in 2006, namely the shoulder problems
that would see Garcia win just one game for the Phillies and delay McCarthy’s
ascendance into a reliable rotation piece. And noting those shoulder woes
doesn’t even begin to acknowledge another Beelzebubba moment of that month: That
Williams, just one year after dealing diminutive future starting star Giovany
Gonzalez as part of the Aaron Rowand-Jim Thome swap, was able to steal him
right back from Philly along with Floyd.

Alas, it got much more complicated and painful for Williams ever
since.

In the six years leading up to the Floyd and Danks deals, Williams
traded away 84.1 seasons’ worth of players and acquired 82.8. Those players
dealt had a 57.5 WAR, and the players acquired amassed 74.4. The dollar value
of the players traded away was $204.3 million, and the players brought to
Chicago totaled $275.2 million. The overall surplus value of the players dealt
was $74.4 million, and those acquired were $15.8 million.

In the almost five years since the Floyd and Danks deals, Williams
has traded away 46.7 seasons of players and acquired 31.6. The WAR of the
traded players totals 35, compared to 21.4 of the new White Sox. The dollar
value of the players traded is $154.4 million, of the acquired just $94
million. The total surplus value of the traded players is $53.6 million, of the
acquired players -$19.6 million.

Obviously, subtracting the two best deals of the Williams era is
going to tarnish the overall statistics. But the contrast of pre-December 2006
and post- is staggering. Take the difference in WAR, for example. The key hallmarks of a Williams deals are:

1. he brings a huge WAR advantage to the White Sox in trades and

2. he tends to pay
pretty dearly for that WAR advantage.

Will dealing Floyd away save Ken's soul?

But look at that post-December 2006 WAR
differential: Here Williams has “lost” the WAR battle, as the players he’s
dealt have earned 164% more WAR than those acquired. His biggest strength as a GM has failed him.

Williams has had a similarly rough track record in the free agency
arena post-December 2006 as well. In his first six years, players Williams
allowed to sign elsewhere accumulated a total surplus value of -$47.7 million,
while players signed by the White Sox have amassed a surplus value of $77.1
million. In the five years since, Williams has cut loose a total surplus value
of -$15 million, while the players he’s signed have compiled a surplus value of
-$45.9 million.

Put in a slightly different way, seven of the eight best WAR trades and five of the
six best surplus value trades Williams made came before December 2006.

Floyd has been the subject of almost constant trade rumors over the
past few years, which is puzzling given that until this season, he’s always been a
great value for the White Sox, basically drafting right behind Danks in terms
of his overall value to the team.

However, it's now very clear that the righthander has been the equivalent of an upside-down
horseshoe hanging in Williams’ office. Perhaps once the GM deals Floyd away,
Williams can break out of his Swisher-Dunn-Rios-Young slump that has marred the
latter half of his tenure.

P.S. to Groovy Gavin: When the Grim Reaper guised as the GM comes
for you, be sure to cite the names Youkilis, Liriano, and Myers, and don’t
forget to mention how very good the second half of 2012 has been to everyone. We’d love to keep you in town, big fella.

About Poetry in Pros

Brett most recently logged a couple of beats at CSNChicago, first following the Blackhawks and covering their first Stanley Cup win in 49 years, then shifting to the South Side and the White Sox.

His sportswriting career began right before the turn of the century, first as an editor for Basketball News and later editing Basketball Digest and Bowling Digest. He has written for Baseball Digest and MLB Trade Rumors, as well as the Chicago White Sox and MLB World Series programs, as well as Slam, Hoop, Inside Stuff, Courtside, Rinkside, and numerous NBA game programs. He has been featured in ESPN the Magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Baltimore Sun and Crain's Chicago Business, and on Comcast Sports Net, NBA-TV, NHL.com, MLB.com, WLS-TV, WGN-TV and the BBC. He's also written features for the NBA Finals and NBA All-Star Game programs.

Brett is the author of the essential baseball reference work 'The Wit and Wisdom of Ozzie Guillen.' When Ozzie first saw the book, on Opening Night 2006, he cracked wise to those in his manager's office, asking, "What's wisdom?" To which owner Jerry Reinsdorf replied, "Don't worry, Ozzie. You don't have any."

A lifelong Chicago sports fan, the first game Brett attended was on Dec. 4, 1976, watching the Bulls snap a (still) franchise-record 13-game losing streak and setting in motion the playoff run that would come to be defined as the Miracle on Madison. At Brett's first White Sox game on June 4, 1977, Richie Zisk of the South Side Hit Men homered over the roof at Comiskey Park at a time when the feat was as rare as a no-hitter. Brett's first Chicago Bears game was on Oct. 7, 1984, when Walter Payton broke the all-time NFL career rushing mark.

More than anything, however, Brett is a baseball and a White Sox fan, having seen hundreds of games over his lifetime, including a walk-off grand slam by Carlos Lee to defeat the Cubbies, the infamous Michael Barrett sucker-punch on A.J. Pierzynski, a then-season record home run by Oscar Gamble in 1977, Bobby Thigpen's 50th season save in 1990, and the classic Blackout tiebreaker win over the Twins in 2008. There have been many pilgrimages to see the team, including a September 1990 drive up from Texas to see a final series at Comiskey Park, an April 1991 flight to watch the otherwise-unmentionable first game at the then-New Comiskey Park, outrunning a snowstorm to see the White Sox be whitewashed in a late September game at Kauffman Stadium, and a jaunt down to the Hovering Sombrero in 2005 to catch the club take on the Tampa Bay Rays.

His highlight as a fan is, of course, witnessing the entire home run of 2005 White Sox playoff victories, including the two extraordinary wins over the Houston Astros at USCF that spurred a World Series sweep. More recently, he took in Mark Buehrle's perfect game in 2009, during which Brett made the boldest prediction imaginable—not of an eventual perfect game, but a Josh Fields grand slam! Brett has watched games in every major league city.

Brett graduated from Texas Christian University with a Journalism and English degree and came thisclose to finishing his English master's at Kansas State University while teaching composition to disinterested agribusiness majors. He's won a number of writing awards in areas as varied as poetry, fiction, features, news reporting and opinion writing. Brett lives in Florida with his incomparable wife, Angelique.

Poetry in Pros Trivia

Now that you know a little bit about Poetry in Pros writer Brett Ballantini, see how you score below. True or false, Brett:

Believes that the ABA saved professional basketball.

Borrowed the title of the first draft of his master's thesis from a Camper Van Beethoven song.

Co-founded and played in a band called Ethnocentric Republicans, who once shared a bill with 15-minutes-of-fame grunge rockers The Toadies.

Considers nachos piled high with jalapenos as his go-to concession food.

Gave a Crunch bar to then-Nestle spokesman Shaquille O'Neal before their first interview together in Milwaukee. Later saw an empty Crunch bar wrapper in Shaq's locker.

Gave three photographs from his personal collection to the Chicago Bulls for their "walk of fame" leading to the locker room at the United Center.

Had four front teeth.

Has appeared in one movie, in which he was murdered when Albert Einstein slammed his head in a door.

Has appeared on the cover of a magazine with a circulation of 100,000. As Santa Claus. Bowling.

Has attended just three games in Wrigley Field as a fan. One was to see the Chicago Sting.

Has been a vegetarian for 30 years.

Has been doused by Bill Veeck's outfield shower in two different decades, in two different White Sox parks.

Hasn't cried over a game since Tito Landrum crushed that homer off of Britt Burns in October 1983.

Has worked for at least seven publications that are no longer in business.

Kissed the Minnie Minoso statue in the outfield concourse at Sox Park on the cheek as a good-luck gesture before Game 1 of the 2005 World Series.

Caught a foul ball while covering a preseason game from the roof of Tempe Diablo Stadium. On his birthday.

To Wit:

"When I build a fire under a person, I do not do it merely because of the enjoyment I get out of seeing him fry, but because he is worth the trouble. It is then a compliment, a distinction; let him give thanks and keep quiet. I do not fry the small, the commonplace, the unworthy."